


Queen Novella Cousland

by QueenLilithQuinn



Series: Saphira's Canon Dragon Age Timeline [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, Fantasy, I'll add more tags later, Mild Smut, Romance, Skips Around Timeline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-10-05 02:41:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10295675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenLilithQuinn/pseuds/QueenLilithQuinn
Summary: Hero of Ferelden. Grey Warden. Youngest of the Couslands. Queen of Ferelden.Here's the story of Novella Cousland and her rise to Queenship along with her husband Alistair Theirin.





	1. Her Tragic Beginning

I was always the black sheep of the family. I was magnificent with the sword and I loved the color blue so much that I took dye to my light brown hair and dyed it till every strand was this beautiful blue. I always had a thought that I was meant for something more than just staying behind the castle walls. When Duncan came by Castle Cousland, I was on edge, ready for adventure. Alas, my father went against sending his youngest and his only daughter out to battle with the Grey Wardens. He told me I had to look after the castle for him while he was out fighting the Darkspawn.

That night, my wish for adventure came true but not in the way I wanted it.. I never wanted my adventure like that. An old friend of my father’s, Arl Howe, betrayed my father and had his men murder my nephew, sister-in-law, father, and mother. I fled with Duncan out of the secret passage in the pantry and to Ostagar. I was filled with so many emotions but I didn’t know how to communicate how I was feeling, but I had to abandon my thoughts of Howe’s head on top of a spear. I was a Grey Warden recruit and there was no time for vengeance when there was a Blight to be stopped. 

Not only did I get the adventure I so desperately wanted, but I also met someone who would change my outlook on the concept of love and marriage. His name is Alistair.

Funny how when I first met him, I knew we were gonna get along just fine because I found his sassing a mage pretty… Entertaining. I just stood there and listened to him try to talk to the mage, but the mage seemed very frustrated. 

 

“And here I was going to name one of my children after you… The grumpy one.” 

 

Let’s just say with that ridiculous conversation with that mage, I became intrigued with Alistair and felt some kind of connection with him. 

When Duncan sent us out to retrieve blood for the Joining and the treaties, I wanted to stay as close to him as possible. Even when we met Flemeth and her daughter, Morrigan, I felt the need to be near him to feel safe. 

I got my chance with that when we had to light the beacon and fight along beside each other with my Mabari named Ares. Alistair and I talked in between our encounters with the darkspawn, and the next day when we found out we were the last two surviving Grey Wardens in Ferelden. 

After that time, I gave him a shoulder to cry on and a friend he could trust. Even with our growing party and going all across Ferelden; I made time just to talk to him.

I remember the day he approached me, when we were heading to Redcliffe and he told me of his royal blood. Being around him made me grow an even better since of humor so I called him a “royal bastard.” Which, to my surprise, got a small laugh out of him. 

After we finished business with the Arl and the Circle, he approached me at camp and asked me if we could go find his sister, I told him we would and within the next few days, we traveled to Denerim. 

The encounter with his sister… Didn’t quite go as he planned and I felt for him. Once she kicked us out of her home, I look at him and told him “everyone is just out for themselves.”

Even if he was a man, he had the personality of a clueless child and after I said what I said, he seemed to have… Grown up.

Within the next few days, our bond seemed to grow stronger and as I was talking to him, one day, he pulled me close and our lips touched, moving in sync with each others’. It didn’t last too long because he pulled away.

 

“I hope that wasn’t too soon…” He said, his head tilting towards the ground. That’s when I took his face into my hands and smirked.

“I don’t know. I’ll need more testing.” That’s when he leaned down, a bit, and we shared another kiss.

Everything else about that particular week and night was such a blur, as were many of the other weeks but the nights I remember are the ones that made me forget we were Grey Wardens fighting the fifth Blight. 

One particular night is when he came to me with a beautiful, red rose in his hand and held it out for me to look at.

“Here, look at this. Do you know what this is?” I took a look at the rose he had in his hand. He seemed nervous so I decided to break his nervousness. With a hand on my hip, I smirked and smarted off with “Oh? Is this your new weapon of choice?”

Alistair was not hesitant to reply to my smartassery. 

“Yes! That’s right!” A grin tugged at the corner of his lips. “Watch as I thrash our enemies with the mighty power of floral arrangements! Feel my thorns, darkspawn! I will overpower you with my rosy scent.” He brought the rose up to his nose and sniffed it; I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. “Or, you know, it could just be a rose. I know that’s pretty dull in comparison.”

“Well, sentiment can be a pretty potent weapon.” I stated, still trying to contain my laughter.

“Is it  _ that _ easy to see right through me? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I picked it in Lothering.”

 

That’s about the time I wanted to interject and say “That’s why I couldn’t find you when I said we would meet in the tavern after collecting supplies.” Alias, I didn’t because I wanted to hear what he was going to say.

 

“I remember thinking ‘How could something so beautiful exist in a place with so much despair and ugliness?’ I know I probably should have left it alone, but I couldn’t. The darkspawn would come and their taint would just destroy it. So I’ve had it ever since.” Alistair said with a troubled look on his face. My urge to laugh died and so I spoke with a soft tone.

“That’s a nice sentiment.” 

“I thought that I might give it to you, actually.” He paused for a moment and rubbed his neck with his free hand, holding the rose out to me. “In a lot of ways, I think the same thing when I look at you.” I felt my cheeks heat up but I wasn’t about to turn my gaze away from him. I took the rose from him and I held it close to my chest.

“Thank you, Alistair. That’s a lovely thought.” It was one of those moments I forgot the Blight was going on and I was thankful for those moments.    
“I’m glad you like it..” Alistair sighed and shook his head. “I was thinking, here I am doing all this complaining, and you haven’t exactly been having a good time of it yourself. You’ve had none of the good experience of being a Grey Warden since your Joining, not a word of thanks or congratulations. It’s all been death and fighting and tragedy. I thought maybe I could say something. Tell you what a rare and wonderful thing you are to find amidst all of this… darkness.”

 

I could actually feel myself falling harder in love with this goofball with every word he had just spoken to me, at this point of time. I had to say something to break this depressing atmosphere, once more, I didn’t want him to fall apart.

 

“So…” I took a hand and flipped some of my blue locks off my shoulder. “Does this mean we’re married now?” Alistair let out a laugh and folded his arms over his chest.

“You won’t land me that easily, woman! I know I’m quite the prize, after all, no need to start crying on me or anything.” I jutted out my lower lip in a playful pout. 

“I guess that was… A stupid impulse.. I don’t know, was it the wrong one?” I closed my eyes for a brief moment and shook my head.

“No, it wasn’t. Thank you so much, Alistair.” I opened my eyes back up and looked up at him.

“I’m glad you like it. Now, if we could move right on past this awkward, embarrassing stage and get right to the steamy bits, I’d appreciate it.” And that’s where my jaw dropped in my mind. He said what now. Oh, two could play that game.

“Sounds good. Off with the armour then.” My lips tugged into a smirk and I took one step closer. He started to laugh once more and I moved my hands to rest behind my back.

“Bluff called! Damn! She saw right through me!” I pursed my lips together and tilted my head to the side a tad bit. 

“Why must it be a bluff, love?” I tried to have a cutesy, seductive voice to try to convince him to ease up and not be so nervous.

“Well, I suppose we are in the camp. The tent’s right over there… This is true.” I could tell he was still nervous and I felt a wee bit bad for him. I knew I was his first lover and I felt like, at the time, was trying to pressure him into wooing me. That is not what I wanted to do.

“You know you’re so cute when you’re bashful, right?” I took one step closer and ruffled his hair up. He immediately backed up, his face rose red.

“I-I’ll be.” He let out a nervous laugh and kept backing up until he was a couple feet away from me. “I’ll be standing over here. Until the blushing stops. Just to be, uh, safe.. You know how it is.”    
I remember rolling my eyes, turning my back side to him, and swaying my hips as I walked to my tent for a good night’s rest. 

 

The next morning we were heading to Orzammar but we ended up in the middle of an ambush, thanks to the assassins Loghain had sent after the remaining Grey Wardens. Once all the assassins lay dead, I remember the leader of the pack, Zevran, begging for his life in order to join our cause. Maker curse my heart of gold, because I spared the Antivan Crow assassin sent to kill us. Alistair wasn’t too happy with my decision, so when we reached the Frostback Mountains, I pulled him aside to speak with him.

“Alistair, I am sorry. But there are just the two of us and we need all the help we can get..” I bit down on the inside of my cheek. You could say I was afraid to lose him over this act of pacifism.

“I get it. But you just let the person that was hired to  _ kill _ us into our little party. What says he won’t try to take us out in our sleep?” I bit down harder on the inside of my cheek to the point I could taste my own blood. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

“If he tries anything, we can take him down, easily. There’s more of us than there is of him. Besides, we took down all of his men with an ease. How difficult can he be?” After I finished my statement, I spit the blood over to my side.

“I suppose you’re right, Novella.” He reached over and cupped my cheek with his cold-gloved hand. “I don’t want to lose you or anyone else. But I trust your judgement.” I leaned into his touch and closed my eyes.

“Alright, lovebirds. We have dwarves to convince to join our little “army”.” Morrigan scoffed and I opened my eyes, taking a hold of Alistair’s hand, walking to the gates of Orzammar. 

 


	2. Nights of Love

We fought off Loghain’s men and made it into Orzammar. We weren’t expecting much but the political civil war was not what we expected. I feared that we would not get the help we needed to fight off the Blight and that terrified me. But, we pushed further until we ended up in the presence of the Vartag in the Chamber of Assembly. He asked of us to expose the real-estate scam going on between Harrowmont and three other people. Of course, I accepted, because the quicker we get these petty fights out of the way, the quicker we could kill the darkspawn.

We found Lady Dace and showed her the documents, she didn’t seemed too pleased but her vote wasn’t going to change that easily. I needed to confront her father about that, which he was exploring the Deep Roads. So that would be about a day’s worth of a journey and I would want my rest before then. We left Orzammar after showing Lord Helmi, in the vomit-reeking tavern, the documents. Which was enough to convince him to swing his vote to Bhelen.

My party decided to go back to camp to collect supplies and rejuvenate because the Maker knew we were going to need our strength for the next day. This particular night was quite memorable, if I dare say, because Alistair approached me while I was sitting in front of the fire, trying to warm myself up. He took a spot beside me and rested his hand on the ground, shifting his weight that arm.

 

“All right. I guess I really don’t know how to ask you this, Novella..” Again, with that hint of nervousness in his voice. It was only me he was speaking to. At that point of time, I hoped he knew that he should trust me.

“Hm?” I turned my body slightly towards him. Alistair looked at me before his face turned a rosy red and he turned away.

“I-I suppose not. I just thought..” He tilted his head down and began to fidget with his hands. “We’re together at camp? Maybe we could talk?” The fire in front of us revealed the beads of sweat dripping down his forehead and I decided to question about it.

“Love, are you sweating..?” I leaned my head a little to one side and I gave him a questioning glance.

“No!” He turned his gaze towards me once more before looking away. “I mean, yes. I’m a little nervous, sure. Not that this is anything bad or frightening or.. Well, yes.” I went to speak but he let out a sigh and rested his hands on his forehead. “Agh. How do I say this? You’d think it would be easier, but every time I’m around you… I feel as if my head is going to explode.” He let out a grunt and buried his face into his hands. “I can’t think straight.”

“Uhm… Thanks?” Yes, I was really confused but what he meant. I didn’t know if he meant it in a good way or bad way.

“I don’t mean it like that! I mean.” He slid his hands down his face as he took a deep breath. “All right. Let me start over.” There was a short pause and he turned his body towards mine to look at me, he reached over and took my hand in his. He looked deep into my eyes and began to speak again. “Being near you makes me crazy but I can’t imagine being without you. Not  _ ever _ .”

My pasty pale cheeks began to heat up and not because of the fire. 

“Alistair.. I..” Before I could find the words, he began to speak again. 

“I really don’t know how to say this any other way but I want to spend the night with you. Here, in camp. Maybe this is too fast, I don’t know. But I know what I feel.” He tilted his head down, looking at the ground and I tilted his chin up with the hand he was not holding.

“I feel the same way, love. I have for awhile now.” I spoke with a soft tone. I did not want to scare him off. He took a deep breath and closed his amber colored eyes for a moment before looking into mine.

“You know.. I just wanted to wait for the perfect time, the perfect place..” He paused.”But when will it be perfect? If things were, we wouldn’t even have met.” There was another pause and I felt my eyes welling up tears. Out of all the bad that had happened, here was my light in this dark situation standing right in front of me. I couldn’t help when tears began rolling down my pale cheeks so he had let go of my hand, took off his gauntlets, cupped my cheeks, and wiped the tears away with his thumbs. But he wasn’t done.

“We sort of stumbled into each other, and despite this being the least perfect time, I still found myself falling for you in between all the fighting and everything else. I really don’t want to wait anymore… I’ve.. I’ve never done this before and you know that. But I want it to be with you while we still have the chance. In case…” I cut him off.

“D-don’t talk like that. There will always be time later.” But doubt scratched in the back of my mind and I took a deep, but shaky, breath. I wasn’t sad; I was actually happy. I had never felt this way about anyone in my life before but now, everything was different.

“Will there? You don’t know that. I don’t know that. I’d like to be able to say I threw caution to the wind at least once.” It took a moment for me to collect my emotions, he dropped his hands off my face, and I wiped my eyes. 

“If this is really what you want.” I pushed myself up onto my feet and looked down at him. Alistair followed my lead.

“I think so. I hope so.” I reached over and took ahold of one of his hands and I led the way to my tent. Once we were right in front of my tent, I turned to look at him.   
“I want you to know I haven’t done this, either… I never wanted to be with anyone, before. Until you stepped into my life.”    
“Nor I.” Alistair replied as I let go of his hand and crawled into the tent.


	3. Nights of Love Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My attempt at smut and a bit of fluff.

Once Alistair had gotten into the tent, I had kicked off my boots and I crawled over to him. I couldn’t lie, I was extremely anxious about this. I never had the desire to bed anyone or be with anyone since that life didn’t seem to suit me but here he was, sitting right there, carefully removing each piece of armor that he had on. I took a deep breath and I bit down on my lower lip. I could tell he was nervous, too, but I wasn’t bound to show him that I was.

 

“Alistair…” I spoke in a hushed voice but a small smirk tugged at the corner of my lips. But I had gotten his attention and he turned his head towards me. At this moment I had realized I still had my blood stained gauntlets on so I removed them and threw them to rest with my boots. I cupped one of his cheeks with my pale and cold hand and pressed my lips against his. I let my eyes shut and I found myself getting lost in the moment. The past couple of months had been a living nightmare but I seem to find solace when I was around Alistair. I ended up coming back to reality when Alistair rested his warm, rugged hand on top of mine. I pulled away and opened my eyes. He had pulled off his armor before I had, leaving him in his tight-fitting undershirt and loose-fitting underpants. I bit down on my lip once I realized I wasn’t wearing much underneath my armor but my smallclothes. I could feel my cheeks heat up and I leaned back a bit.

 

“Are you alright, love?” He asked worriedly. I lifted up my free hand and placed a finger on his lip, shushing him. I then moved my finger from his lips and rested my hand on his chest, slowly pushing him down onto the makeshift bed. I reached down to my midsection and I began to unbuckle the tight belt that kept my armor from leaving parts of my thin frame vulnerable to attack. For once in my life, I was conscious about my appearance. I had a long scar that started from the side of my left breast to my left hip and a stupid story behind it.

 

“Alistair…” I hesitantly pulled the armor off leaving me in my bra and pants, I wrapped my arms around my midsection to cover the scar before he caught sight of the pale, jagged line that ran down my body.

 

“Novella, are you alright?” He propped himself up on his elbows and I held myself even tighter. This made everything difficult as he was so sweet.

  
“I have kept this scar a secret… Morrigan questioned me about it when I awoke after Flemeth had healed us, but the story of its origin is just… A stupid, stupid one.” I dropped my arms to reveal the scar. It was, at least, a couple years old. Now, Alistair was fully sat up and here I was, sitting on his legs. 

 

“We all have scars, love. I love you for you. You are already beautiful and the scar just adds to your unique beauty.” I looked down as my face turned red and I scooted up closer to him, so I was sitting on his lap. I could feel his hardened length through his underpants and I could feel the wetness of mine. I was ready. I began to slowly grind my ass against him and he let out a small moan. “Maker’s breath.” I grabbed ahold of the bottom of his shirt and he lifted up his arms above his head. Up, over, and off the shirt went and his hands immediately went to the belt of my pants, unbuckling it with ease; I lifted up off of him as he slid my pants down and I kicked them off. Which left me in my smallclothes with a smirk on my face. His shaky hands ran up my back and I closed my eyes. That's when I felt the burden of the cloth that cramped my breasts fall off my body and onto his chest. I pushed it onto the ground and pressed my lips against his harshly. I found myself having his hands entangled in his hair as he slid off the last of my clothes to leave me exposed to him. He pulled away from the kiss and took a quick glance at me.    
“You’re such a beauty…” He had whispered and my face heated up.

“Shhh.” I ran my hands down his muscular body and I untied his pants, pushing them down so suddenly to leave his erected member, waiting for me. I lowered myself onto him and let out a small whimper as I felt the pain of getting adjusted to his length. I bit down on my lower lip and I slowly started to bounce, my breasts bouncing along with my body. Alistair let out a groan and rested his hands on my waist; everything seemed like a blur as he flipped us over so I was resting on my back and he was hovering on top of me. My sky-blue eyes looked into his amber eyes as he pushed his member into me. My back arched and I let out a loud moan, not realizing how loud I was being, at that point in time.

“A-Alistair…” I ran my hands up his spine as he thrusted, with every thrust, my nails would dig deep into his back when suddenly, we had reached our orgasms and I dropped my hands down his back. 

 

He collapsed beside of me, his chest heaving as he breathed and his forehead covered with sweat. I scooted over close to him and wrapped my thin arms around his well-built frame. 

 

“You know… According to the sisters at the monastery, I should have been struck by lighting by now..” He broke the silence and I let out a small giggle. 

  
“Oh, really now?” I buried my face into his shoulder. I never wanted this moment to end because I was afraid of what the next day held. 

 

“Yep.” I let go of him and I entangled one of my hands in his soft hair before he began to speak again. “Lighting first, then the end of civilization as we know it. I am a bad, bad man.” 

 

“Mhm. Something we can both agree on.” I couldn’t help but seize the opportunity to crack a joke. It made him chuckle and I couldn’t help but smile. Several moments passed and he had held me close. Just as I was about to sleep, he spoke once more.

 

“You do realize the rest of our little party is going to talk, right? They do that.” I let out a yawn after he spoke.

 

“First smart comment and I feed them to the Darkspawn. Simple.” He laughed once more.

 

“This is why I love you.” He tilted his head down at me and let out a small sigh. “So, what now? Where do we go from here?” Damn, he didn’t hold back on the difficult questions. I grabbed his hand and intertwined my fingers with his.

 

“We stay together. No matter what.” I let out another yawn. I really just wanted to sleep.

 

“Right. I can handle that. I hope.” He could I was tired but he wanted to get one last thing in before we slept for the night. “Hey, before we fall asleep, have I told you?” I nodded slowly. “I did? Well, it won’t kill you to hear it again, will it?” 

  
“No, because I love you too… Now get to sleep. Busy day, tomorrow, dear.” I closed my eyes and the last thing I heard before I drifted off was “Right, I’ll stop talking, now.”


	4. Small Talk

I awoke before Alistair had, my mind racing through what had happened the previous night and I couldn't help but blush. I guess when I shifted in his arms to get dressed, I had woken him up.

 

"Novella, stay just a bit longer." He let out a small whine. I let out a sigh of defeat and rolled back to face him, cupping his cheek with my hand. 

 

"Only for you, my love." I leaned up and pressed a sweet and tender kiss onto his lips. I leaned my head back down and rested my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat against his toned chest. I almost had fallen asleep but Alistair had spoken so suddenly.

 

"So, you never told me the story of that scar." I could hear the cockiness in the tone of his voice. I let out a groan. 

 

"It's not an interesting story. I was sparring with my friend and he ended up, accidentally, slicing me open with the blade. Nothing too heroic about it." I then buried my face into his chest.

 

"Still, I just like hearing about your life." He began to stroke, the now, fading long blue hair of mine and he rested his chin on top of my head. "My favorite story of yours is the day your mom found out you took clothes dye to your hair." We both let out a small laugh. 

 

"Well, don't you have any interesting stories to tell? You got to have some." 

 

"My interesting stories are the ones I have made with you." As soon as he said that, my face turned bright red, once more. Thank the Maker he couldn't see.

 

"Cute. But I'm talking about before becoming a Warden, lovebird."

 

"Fine. Once upon a time, I walked out to the Templars in just my underwear. I played it off like I had armor on and then walked back to get the missing armor on." I couldn't help but burst out laughing. After I regained myself, I spoke. 

 

"What a glorious sight I never saw. Such a shame." 

 

"You've already seen much more than just my underwear. For the Maker's sake, I remember you spying on me bathing within the first month of knowing each other."

 

"I've already told you times before I was letting you know that dinner was done. Besides, at that moment, I don't think I liked what I saw." That was an obvious lie but I just wanted to be cocky. I scooted away from him and folded my arms over my pale breasts, looking up at him with a smirk. He let out a groan.

 

"Maker's breath, Novella. We wouldn't be in the same tent if you didn't like what you saw." My smirk grew wider.

 

"If we are going to talk about spying, I caught you staring at my hindquarters the first day we met." His face immediately flushed rose red.

 

"I-I wasn't staring... At your hindquarters... No! Definitely not. That would've been... Very inappropriate." I had gotten him all flustered and I really liked it. 

 

"Oh, quit your lying. I know that you did. But you know what? That doesn't even matter." I propped myself up elbow and looked at him. "I just shared the night with you and I love you." A moment of silence passed and I pushed myself up. Letting the thin blanket that covered me fall down to the ground and my rear end facing Alistair. I walked over to my clothes when I heard. 

 

"Novella?" I turned my body to face him.

 

"Hmm?" 

 

"Was it your goal to make me need you this morning?" 

 

"I have no clue what you are talking about." I turned around and I let out a small giggle. I then decided to turn back around and plop myself onto his lap, right where his half-erected member bulged out through the blanket. I sat up and shoved the blanket off of him and I looked over at him. His face was red and he was biting down on his lip. "Try to be quiet, alright?" 

 

"I can't promise you anything, my love." I rolled my eyes at his statement; I leaned down and I pressed my lips against his chest, leaving a trail of kisses from his chest, all the way down to his V-Line. I stopped once I got to his now fully erected member and I ran my tongue up the length of his shaft. My eyes looked up at Alistair to see him biting down on his lip to keep himself from being noisy. I smirked before pressing my lips against his tip and digging my tongue into his leaking tip. He let out a small moan and I took more of him into my mouth, running my tongue along his prominent vein. I looked back up at him once more and I ran my hand up his abdomen. He looked down at me and ran his hands through my fading blue hair, tugging it slightly. I couldn’t help but let out a slight groan, cradled his balls with my free hand, bobbed my head up and down, never taking my eyes off of him. He bucked his hips up and his length hit the back of my throat, causing me to gag.   
  


“Novella…” He tugged on my hair harder and I continued to bob my head until he finally reached his climax. I pulled my head up, swallowed the seed I had in my mouth, and licked my lips. Alistair let go of my hair and sat up. 

 

“Well, we have a busy day today, my dear,” I said and let out a small chuckle. I got up, grabbed his underwear, and threw it at him. “Get dressed so we don’t have any more distractions.”

 

“Whatever you say, my Fearless Leader.” He smirked and I shook my head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to write something small for this.


	5. A Little Talk With Wynne

The trip back to Orzammar was quiet and the Deep Roads was exhausting, but in the end, it was worth it. We ended up convincing Lord Dace to change his vote to Bhelen. On the way back to Orzammar, I walked right beside of Wynne and I whispered.

“Wynne, could you help me with something tonight?” Wynne looked forward but she whispered back in reply to me.

“What is it you need, Lady Cousland?” I let out a small sigh and I rubbed the back of my neck.

“I don’t know if this would be easy or possible but Alistair had given me a beautiful red rose the night before last and I wanted to know if you could preserve it with some magic. I don’t mean to ask much but Morrigan would reject this without hesitation.” Wynne let out a sigh.

“It isn’t impossible and I will see what I can do but, Novella, where do you think this relationship will go?”   
_“Oh. Fuck. She knew how to ask the hard questions.”_ I bit down on my lower lip before I could reply, she immediately cut me off.

“Alistair is a fine lad, skilled in battle, but quite inexperienced when it comes to affairs of the heart. I would hate to see him get hurt.”

“Do you think I would hurt Alistair?” I was a bit offended at what she was implying. My gaze turned towards her for a moment as she shook her head.

“Not intentionally, no. But there is great potential for tragedy here, for one or both of you.” I folded my arms against my armor, slightly irritated but still listening to what she had to say. “You are both Grey Wardens, and he is the son of a king. You have responsibilities which supersede your personal desires.” I let the anger get the best of me and I raised my voice.

“Wynne, I can handle both my responsibilities and my relationship.”

“Love is ultimately selfish. It demands that one be devoted to a single person, who may fully occupy one’s mind and heart, to the exclusion of all else. A Grey Warden cannot afford to be selfish. You may be forced to make a choice between saving your love and everyone else, then what would you do?” I paused a moment and I thought about what she said, she was right, but she didn’t realize how much Alistair had meant to me. She was a couple paces ahead of me but I jogged just to catch up. I felt tears welling up in my eyes and I spoke again.

“I don’t want to have to make that choice...”

“Nothing is certain, not in these times. You cannot take anything for granted. I want you to be aware of this.” I scoffed and started to walk faster, turning back towards her to say one more thing to her.  
“Alistair and I can handle whatever comes our way.” I walked towards Alistair’s side, taking his armored hand into mine and leaning against his cold plated armor.

What she said was right about our responsibilities and I was scared. I knew I was of noble blood so I could be Queen, but that was if Alistair was forced to be King. But another matter she was right about was the Blight. We had to deal with that and one or both of us could perish in that time.

“Alistair…?” I looked up at him.

“Hm?” He responded.

“I love you.” I said as the exit to the Deep Roads came into view and I let go of his hand.


End file.
